A Lesson In Humanity
by ForeverSirius77
Summary: In time, the Morningstar will learn to love.


**Title:** A Lesson In Humanity

**Rating:** R

**Length:** One-shot (2528 words)

**Pairings:** Lucifer/Mary; implied John/Mary

**Era:** Pre-series

**Warnings: **Sexual content, complete AU

**Summary:** _In time, the Morningstar will learn to love._

**Note: **Written for the "Somethin' New - A Metamorphosis" writing challenge on LJ community - spnland; prompt - 'Put your favorite character through the transformation of a lifetime'

* * *

Tall towers stretched high, their structures built out of gold, silver, white marble – whatever substance one wished. Light glittered off of their surfaces, causing brief shadows to fall over the two figures standing at the base of one of the largest.

"It isn't right," said the shorter one, turning to face the other. His blue eyes traveled just a fraction higher to meet the darker gaze of his companion. He continued pacing along the golden-colored steps as the taller figure just watched.

"It is our Father's world, Lucifer," said Michael, stepping in front of the younger archangel and halting his urgent, frustrated actions. "He has created it, just as He has created us, and He has chosen them—"

"But _they _are unworthy!" exclaimed Lucifer. "Creatures of dirt and dust, and they are barely better than the substances from which they came." Righteousness burned within the young archangel, a fire that lit the Morningstar, making him shine even brighter.

"And our Father _cannot _do this to us," he whispered, staring beseechingly at Michael. "We are the first, and the greatest – and we are the ones who deserve His love …" He grabbed Michael's shoulder. "You know I speak true, don't you, brother?"

Michael didn't answer the Light-Bearer. He just turned and walked away, refusing to meet Lucifer's stare, though he could feel the intense gaze piercing his back as the leader of Heaven's angels left and sought out the guidance of their Father.

* * *

Golden light encompassed Michael, its warm presence comforting – and helped to silence the questions and partial doubts that had started to arise in him. Deep within, as he listened to the soothing voice of his Father, the eldest archangel felt the doubts wash away; he felt the questions forgotten; he felt his entire being cleansed of everything that had made him question.

"You do not wish the Morningstar destroyed?" he asked, the earlier statement from his Father surprising Michael for the briefest moment, for the archangel was sure that such would be the order – such would be the task he would have to carry out.

As much as just such a thought pained him.

"Your brother just needs to learn, my son," said God. "His hatred comes from a lack of understanding, a lack of feeling, of knowledge, behind my children upon the world. Lucifer has really never been one for strictly blind faith, Michael."

Michael bowed his head, a small smile lifting the edges of his mouth as memories sprang in his mind – memories of the many millennia that had passed while the Morningstar questioned _everything_. How? and Why? and so many other questions came from the brightest of them.

"Exactly," said God. "You know very well how a simple answer rarely sufficed for the Light-Bearer, and it especially will not do so in this case. Not when he feels a personal abandonment, a personal betrayal. So the questions – questions that he has not yet really asked – must first be answered."

"But how, Father?" asked Michael. "He will not understand just by seeing—"

"Of course not, my son. Your brother must truly _experience_, must truly _feel_, in order to know and understand.

"Go. Gabriel will help you."

Sudden understanding filled Michael. And as he turned to ask his Father one final question, he received an answer before the first words had left his mouth.

"Watch out for Lucifer," said God. "He will not know or understand things at first, Michael, but he will learn … In time, my son, the Morningstar will learn to love."

* * *

Michael watched his brother as the young angel traversed through space and time, the world below passing from the very first days of mankind's time on the earth to thousands of years later. The eldest of the archangels saw the world changed beyond what it had been.

He saw the beautiful paradise of the Garden destroyed. He saw violence and sickness and death enter the world of man. He saw the simple beauty of what was become the complicated mash-up of light and dark that now dwelt within humanity.

And all through the world's changes, he watched the Morningstar as he traveled. Watched over him … and waited for the moment when the young angel would touch down, and make his landing upon the world, his presence joining with the world of man.

Finally, after so many thousands of years of waiting, it happened.

Michael watched as Lucifer, now human, fell upon the earth.

* * *

_Beep … beep … beep …_

Lucifer slowly opened his eyes, the rhythmic, slow sounds of the heart monitor next to the hospital bed intruding on his sleep and tearing him into the waking world. Slowly, he moved his head to the side, searching out the cause of the noise, but even that slightest movement – that slightest twist of his neck – caused pain to shoot through him.

Confusion clouded his mind. His breathing intensified, and the beeping increased as his heart started pounding against his chest in panic. He tried lifting his hands, but found them too heavy, and glancing down, saw them wrapped up in rounds and rounds of white gauze.

"Calm down, brother."

Lucifer turned his head suddenly in the direction of the voice, ignoring the pain that sprung in his neck as he did so. He recognized that voice, even if the form from whence it came was unfamiliar to the young angel.

"Michael?" he asked. And when he received a nod in return to his query, he continued in a rush. "What has happened to me? Why can't I move? Where am I? What is this?"

Michael stepped from the shadowed corner of the room and approached Lucifer's bed, laying a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You must calm yourself," he said quietly. "Right now, Lucifer … right now, you are human."

Lucifer just stared at Michael, lost for words. Michael opened his mouth to continue his explanation of the past events when the door to Lucifer's room opened, revealing a young, blond-haired woman.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said. "I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"

Michael shook his head, silencing Lucifer's intended complaint with a glare. "Of course not," he said, smiling. "Please, come in."

"I just need to make sure he's doing okay," she answered. "It's good to see you awake, Mr. Angel," she smiled at Lucifer. "Your brother has been here ever since you arrived."

Lucifer glanced at Michael. "He has?"

"Of course I have, _Lucas_," said Michael, emphasizing the name with another glare. "After what happened, it was Father's orders that I watch over you, little brother."

The blond-haired nurse smiled as she watched the two men, her thoughts drifting momentarily to her own little boy at home, and how she wished, more than anything, for him to have a brother – someone to form a relationship with like these two obviously had.

"Well," she said, placing the chart back down, "everything seems alright. You're healing nicely, Mr. Angel." She started to head towards the door. "If either of you need anything else, just ask one of the nurses."

"Thank you, Ms …" said Michael.

"Winchester," said the nurse, smiling. "Mary Winchester."

* * *

Days, weeks, even months passed while Lucifer (or "Lucas Angel" as his medical chart referred to him as) stayed down on the earth. He spent most of the time at first in the hospital, his injuries from the "accident" (which, according to the hospital, had been a rather severe car wreck) being a bit more severe than the doctors had originally thought, and thus requiring a bit more time to heal.

In the beginning, he was frustrated, angry, cursing at his older brother when the two of them were alone. He demanded that Michael use his Grace to heal him, demanded that this entire foolish "lesson" he was being made to experience end, demanded that Michael undo whatever it was he had done that had made Lucifer human in the first place, and allow the two of them to return to Heaven – where they both _rightfully_ belonged.

"I am not one of these _creatures_, Michael," he said. "I am not a frail, weak, broken, _human_, and I do not belong in a hospital bed like one." The young angel turned his burning blue eyes on the elder. "I want my Grace back. I want my wings back. I want to go _home_, brother! And I know that you do, too."

Michael sighed. "Not until this is over—"

"It _is_ over, Michael! This whole foolish 'test' of Father's has gone far enough! We are not them, and they are not us. They will never _be_ us." He sighed. "And I can never love them like He wants me to."

Michael's eyes slid shut as he sighed heavily. "Then you will never be able to come home, little brother," he whispered. "I'm sorry." And he turned and left, ignoring Lucifer's yells for him to come back.

* * *

Time continued to pass, and Michael never did return to see Lucifer. Mary watched the young man in the hospital bed, watched him as his healing came to a standstill, the absence of his brother – of his family – obviously affecting him.

And the young nurse began to spend more time with him. She sat with him when she could, gave him more attention than any of the other patients. She told him about her husband and about her little boy. She told him about her friends. She told him that she wished her son could have a brother – or a sister – because she always wanted to have more than one child.

Mary Winchester told Lucifer everything that was on her mind, everything that she worried over, everything that she even remotely wanted to talk about, everything that she wouldn't even tell her husband.

Mary Winchester told Lucifer everything.

And Lucifer listened.

And over time, things began to change between them. Mary found herself wanting to talk to Lucifer more than anyone, found herself wanting to spend more and more time with him than anyone else in her life, and Lucifer found himself experiencing things that he had never felt before.

He found himself smiling when Mary would come into his room. He found himself anticipating, wanting, her to come. He found himself missing her when she wasn't there. He found his heart pounding when he thought of her. He found himself wanting her in every possible way.

He found himself loving her.

* * *

The first time they kissed, it was, surprisingly, Mary who initiated it. Barely three days had passed since Lucifer left the hospital, and they had run into each other at a café just a few blocks from the medical center.

The act had been spontaneous, unexpected. One minute, he was smiling, she was laughing; the next, she leaned forward across the small table and briefly pressed her soft lips to his.

He didn't give her the chance to pull away, not now. His eyes glanced down to hers, and he immediately started to deepen the kiss, his tongue seeking entrance into her mouth, pulling her to his side as he did so. It was the moment he had wanted, had hoped to experience with her, ever since he realized just what it was he was feeling.

"I shouldn't want this," she muttered as she pulled back, breaking the kiss. Her head was bowed, the action keeping her bright eyes from him. He lifted her chin, bringing their eyes to meet again.

"But there's something about you, Lucas," said Mary, staring into his own blue depths, as if she was lost at sea. "Something about you just … it draws me to you."

Lucifer smiled, one of the first _true_ smiles since he found himself human on this planet. "And it's the same for me, Mary," he whispered, kissing her lightly again. "I can't keep my mind from thoughts of you."

* * *

Lucifer and Mary only had the opportunity to make love once, in the heat of August when John was away. Moonlight shone through the cracked window drapes, the pale light falling over the bedcovers like a river.

"He's asleep," said Mary, coming back into the bedroom where Lucifer was waiting for her to finish with her son. "I told him you're a friend of mine," she said, joining him on the edge of the bed, her fingers falling on his arm.

Lucifer grinned. "Isn't that true?" he asked.

She laughed. "I suppose it is." She leaned over to kiss him. "But you're a bit more than just a friend, Lucas."

"Hmm, and that is true as well."

Their kiss deepened as she started unbuttoning his shirt, pushing it off his broad shoulders the second that final button popped free. He ran his large hands over her smooth, unblemished skin as he zipped her out of her top and unhooked her bra, barely watching as the lacy fabric drifted lazily to the floor. Hands found their way to the loose locks of blond hair, and fingers twined around the strands as their mouths met. Passion exploded in each of them as they shed their jeans and underwear, their bodies connecting as skin slid against skin in the bed's embrace.

The sheets wrapped around their bodies as hands searched out every inch of each other, exploring parts of one another that Mary and Lucifer had only fantasized and dreamed about, their previous meetings holding only kisses at most. Summer heat added to their own growing passion, the kisses becoming more desperate as tongues lashed against each other, the need for that ultimate connection to happen growing more urgent with each passing moment.

She traced her hand down his naked chest, using only the slightest amount of pressure to push him back and break the kiss. She met his eyes, and he saw the glowing love, the growing lust, shining in her brown depths, as she smiled up at him.

And he knew that his own expression was a perfect match to hers.

Light suddenly filled the room as they neared their climaxes, the intensity and brilliance of it so bright it nearly blinded them. A shadowy form of what looked like wings appeared on the wall behind Lucifer at the very moment of climax, the image unseen by both Mary and Lucifer as they were tightly held in passion's grip.

And the whispered words, "I love you, Mary," fell from his lips, their path to her ear free as he lay down beside her.

* * *

Golden light encompassed Lucifer when he next opened his eyes. He felt the warmth, soothing, calming nature of the light, and knew at once where he was. Glancing down at his own form, he saw that he no longer resembled the human that had walked the earth, but had rather returned to his true nature.

He was the Morningstar once again, bright, his wings returned, and Grace restored.

It was then that he heard the voice. A voice he had been longing to hear for so very long.

"Welcome home, my son."

-FINITE-


End file.
